House GOP: Democrats conducting disingenuous poll

When Sen. Jackie Winters, R-Salem, answered her home phone Thursday, she was "shocked" by a question a pollster asked about House candidate Kathy Goss.

"(The woman asked) 'Would it change your position to know Kathy Goss has stated young women take methamphetamine to stimulate their sexual energy,' " Winters said. "It was designed to get you to think that she supports that activity."

Goss is the Republican nominee for the open seat in House District 20. Her opponent is Democrat Paul Evans of Monmouth.

Democrats have a slight registration edge, but retiring Rep. Vicki Berger, R-Salem, won with nearly 63 percent of the vote in 2012. House Majority Leader Val Hoyle, D-Eugene, has described the district as "the ultimate swing seat."

"It embarrasses me," Goss said. "It makes me angry."

Especially since she served on Marion County's "No meth, not in my neighborhood" committee for several years.

"It's very troubling that Democratic House candidates are utilizing the 'services' of a company with such an appalling track record of unethical and illegal behavior," said Kara Walker, the spokeswoman for Promote Oregon, the campaign arm of the House Republican Office.

Her office plans to file formal complaints with the Oregon Secretary of State, the Oregon Government Ethics Commission and the Oregon Department of Justice.

"I just think push polls are bad; and whoever does them, it does not serve the electorate well at all," Winters said. "It's a way of distorting the image of individuals."

A push poll is an opinion poll in which the objective is to ask questions or read statements that would shift the position of the listener.

"It was all about trying to put her in a negative light," said Fred Thompson, who also received a phone call. "It went way over the edge."

Thompson, a Salem insurance agent who unsuccessfully ran against U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader in 2012, said the question upset him because he's known Goss for years and he's never known her to support methamphetamine use for any reason.

Evans' campaign manager Waylon Buchan said the campaign is conducting a "baseline poll" that takes about 17 minutes.

"I can't discuss details about the poll publicly," Buchan said. "But we definitely don't do push polls, and we certainly aren't running a smear campaign ... If it's coming from us, it's being tested based on what's out there in the public record."

He didn't know whether the person he contracted with to write the poll used Mountain West to place the calls.

Goss thinks she's owed an apology from whoever crafted the question.

"If the table was reversed, I could not be sorrier, and I could not say it quicker," Goss said. "It hurts how we run for office. Lots of people in this state won't run because they don't want to be beat up by someone unfairly by that."

astaver@StatesmanJournal.com or (503) 399-6610 or on Twitter @AnnaStaver